If you are looking to get a car but have a poor credit history then you’ll need to find auto financing for people with bad credit which is actually easier than you might think to obtain. Getting auto loans for people with bad credit may be as simple to qualify for as having a verifiable income and an address that you have lived at for a year or more, as well as having the income to make the payment. You may not need to even have your credit history pulled in order to get one of these buy here pay here car loans, but the dealership offering the bad credit auto loan may require other information.

Many dealerships require that you provide a lot of information such as names and addresses of relatives and family members so that if you default on the loan then they can track you down to repossess the car.  Car financing for people with bad credit is a risky business and this is why they get so much information. They may also need to verify your employment, either by seeing recent pay stubs or by actually calling your employer and verifying that you work there. The dealership may also want to see some proof of address such as a lease agreement or the paperwork on your mortgage.

Car dealerships that offer auto financing for bad credit also may require a large down payment. For instance, if the car is being sold at $3000 then a down payment of $800 or $900 dollars may be required. The payments may also need to coincide with your payday, because to minimize having to repossess the car many dealerships request weekly or bi-weekly payments so that you come in and make your payment on your payday. Also, you may receive a phone call about the loan if you aren’t in that day to pay, or sometimes even the same day to remind you.

One thing to keep in mind as you browse buy here pay here lot is that you may be able to get the company to report to your credit report if you make your payments on time. Usually, companies will have to pay for this service and many car lots won’t do it, but browse around and see if you can find someone offering on the lot auto financing that reports to at least one of the credit bureaus. In this way, you may be able to build your credit up so that the next time that you want to purchase a vehicle you may be able to get a car loan from a regular finance company.

Something else to know about car financing. If a buy here pay here company wants you to put fifty percent or more down, don’t do it, because you can get conventional financing instead. Any car dealership will generally offer credit to anyone that is putting fifty percent of the car’s value down, even if you have bad credit. Check with conventional car dealerships first and see if you can qualify for any of the programs that they have available, or how much you would have to put down on a car to qualify for their financing program.